Northern President Addresses The International Baptist Convention

The International Baptist Convention welcomed Northern’s President, Alistair Brown this week, as featured speaker for this year’s annual conference in Italy. Although originally started to minister to U.S. military servicemen and woman stationed in Europe, the International Baptist Convention (IBC) has evolved to include over 125 nations represented within their churches. Pastors and leaders from many of the convention’s 75 missionary churches were present to hear Dr. Brown give a series of talks on “Effective Ministry in a Tough World”. Brown was truly touched to see such rich diversity, coupled with a strong sense of unity present at the conference. In his blog, he reflected on his time worshipping at the Rome Baptist Church.

“Look around the congregation and see the faces of the world, and you

cannot help but realize, this is what heaven will be like”.

It was this feeling of unity which really set the tone for his talks as he emphasized the value of encouragement and support amongst one another in a time where pastors and lay leaders can often feel isolated, pressurized, disappointed, or frustrated. Brown also discussed people’s natural tendencies to be reluctant to struggling and reluctant to earnestly reaching out for help.